Thunder let one slip in Memphis, 90-89 (OT)

Forget the Marc Gasol tip-in. The Thunder lost this game in the final 62 seconds of regulation.

Up 78-72 with OKC in possession, Kevin Durant stuck his hip out 40 feet from the basket and was nailed for an offensive foul. Ball back to Memphis, in which KD fouled (at least according to the officials, he did), Mike Conley who buried two free throws — 78-74. OKC’s next possession, KD went for the dagger and rimmed out a deep 3 — 78-74, 26 seconds left. The Thunder were clearly worried about a 3 and forgot to play any kind of defense, allowing Conley to prance his way to an uncontested layup — 78-76, 15 seconds left.

So, nine seconds to go, Grizzlies need a 3 to force overtime. Memphis runs a decent play, forcing a switch and Reggie Jackson overplays on Bayless who sinks a game-tying 3 with three seconds left. Another opportunity for the Thunder to foul up three, but instead they played it out and got burned. Now, to be fair, there wasn’t a real great opportunity to wrap anyone up unless you did it with like seven seconds left, which is a bit too much time on the clock. But it didn’t look like the Thunder had any interest in it anyway.

Overtime. And against all odds, despite three horrific offensive possessions and only one point the first four minutes of OT, the Thunder were up one with 13 seconds left after Westbrook hit an incredible finger-roll to put OKC up 89-88. Just in need of a single stop to get out of Memphis with a truly fantastic win. As they repeatedly tried to do all night, the Grizzlies fed Zach Randolph on the block who was stood up by Nick Collison. Kendrick Perkins decided to help on Z-Bo’s shot, leaving KD to rotate down and block out Gasol. Durant got pushed a little too far under the bucket and bang, game over.

Except it wasn’t. With 0.8 on the clock, Perk inexplicably inbounded the ball with the Thunder still in possession of a 20-second timeout. Westbrook launched a 70-foot shot that was wide right. Now it was game over. I don’t know whose fault this was to not call that last timeout and while no, chances weren’t great you’d score anyway there, it’s still a chance. And I’ve seen Kevin Durant do something similar before anyway.

So that’s bad.

As I look at that final score — 90-89 — all I can think about is what a shame it is it ended that way for OKC. Because regardless of any brainfarts or the breakdown on the boards on that final play, this really was a great performance by the Thunder spoiled by the fact they lost. The fourth quarter effort and execution was tremendous.

When Kevin Martin drilled a 3 with 1:25 left to put OKC up six, I was typing out a lede that said, “That, right there, was a faith-restoring kind of win.” Because that’s what this game felt like. KD stepped up big time in the third scoring 15 of OKC’s 19 in the quarter. Westbrook, Martin and Durant all made plays in the fourth and the Thunder were all set for some kind of wonderful bounce-back win. The defense was stellar and the offense was doing enough to get by. It felt like I was watching the Thunder gut out a playoff game in Memphis in 2011. Not pretty, just nasty and effective.

Except the Thunder just sort of gave it all away. Mistakes, bad decisions and silly plays ended up making the Thunder pay dearly in the form of a heart-wrenching loss that just compounds the recent problem of losing to premier teams. Instead of the Thunder going on the road with a serious statement against a top Western contender, they were left dragging themselves out with a two-game skid.

Moral victories are nothing but losses for this Thunder team so feeling even remotely OK about a loss feels dirty, but maybe that’s where things are right now. Good things happened in this game, just the result was bad. I’m so confused about this team right now.

NOTES:

Allow me to stand and clap for Nick Collison. I’ll wait for the rest of the auditorium to join me. (Waiting.) That was some kind of individual defensive effort. That was like good enough to make someone say, “Hey, maybe he deserves some All-Defense votes.” Sometimes we get carried away saying someone “held” someone to a poor shooting night, but Collison legitimately held Z-Bo to 15 points on just 6-23 shooting. That was seriously something else to watch. One of the best games I’ve seen any Thunder player play all year. And to think the box score says he only had four points and five rebounds in 29 minutes. Numbers lie.

KD had a weird game. He started 4-14, then hit his next six shots to get to 10-20, then missed seven straight to drop to 10-27, then hit a runner with a minute left in OT to finish at 11-28. With another off night, he’s slipping dangerously close to the 50-40-90 line. He’s at 50.2 percent from the field, 40.006 from 3. And yes, I deeply care about this.

One adjustment OKC made to get KD going in the third was to isolate Durant in post-ups and on the left wing. The Grizzlies were hesitant to double straightaway, so Durant just essentially got to spots he liked and scored from there.

Positive: Kevin Martin was excellent. He finished with 17 on 6-13 shooting in 33 minutes, but he carried the Thunder’s offense at times in the second quarter (he had 10 points at halftime) and stayed involved in the second half. He actually appeared to be part of the team again for the first time in a while.

Memphis had 19 offensive rebounds. Now, those stats kind of get inflated because Randolph is so good tipping his own misses, but still, 19 offensive boards are just too many.

Westbrook and Durant ended up combining to shoot 18-53 from the floor. Yikes.

If I’m Scott Brooks, I cut a tape of the way Nick Collison played tonight with his effort, energy, discipline and technique and I make Serge Ibaka carry it around for the rest of the season like it’s a football and he’s a running back with a fumbling problem.

Someone should really have asked Russell Westbrook if the Thunder lost this one or if the Grizzlies won it.

Many a Memphis fan were all fired up and yelling that Collison was just fouling Randolph. Here’s the thing about that: There’s contact, absolutely. But Z-Bo is always initiating all of that contact, lowering his head and using his shoulders to clear space. So if you’re going to take away Collison’s ability to bump back with his chest, then you might as well just give Memphis two points every possession. It’s an extremely physical matchup. But Collison is keeping his fingers pointed to the rafters and moving his feet. Just because there’s contact and pushing doesn’t mean there’s a foul.

This is the part where I ask myself, do I feel like spending another paragraph lamenting Derek Fisher’s playing time, or do I just say something like “sigh” and move on?

Oh, I can’t let this go at least: Fisher was an 11 trillion tonight. Eleven minutes, 0-4 shooting and nothing else in the box score.

And this: Fisher played roughly four minutes early in the fourth quarter, all at shooting guard. You know who sat on the bench? OKC’s defensive ace, Thabo Sefolosha. If Derek Fisher didn’t exist on this planet, Thabo would’ve been in the game at that moment. Tell me how to rationalize this. TELL ME.

All that said, Derek Fisher had nothing to do with the Thunder losing this game tonight.

The Thunder had 66 points at halftime last night against Denver. They had 58 after three quarters tonight against Memphis.

The Thunder set a season-low with just nine assists. Previous low was 10.

Perk had a season-high 16 rebounds.

On consecutive possessions in the first half, Westbrook and Ibaka both had fairly insane putbacks.

I really liked OKC’s smallball lineup late in the fourth with Westbrook, Jackson, Martin, Durant and Collison. Actually, I didn’t like it. I loved it. Brooks then subbed Perk in to matchup with Memphis who came back with Gasol, taking out Jackson. I didn’t really like the swap for OKC, but Perk set a terrific screen and then set up Martin nicely for that big 3. So it worked out.

However, I think Brooks should’ve came back with the small lineup in overtime. After sitting Thabo for most of the fourth, he played him the entire overtime session with Collison and Perk as bigs. OKC’s offense stalled out entirely as Westbrook and Durant ran out of ideas.

Westbrook picked up an early technical foul, then briefly lost it when he launched himself into a Marc Gasol screen and then scuffled with him. There’s just something about Westbrook and the Grizzlies that makes him lose his mind.

The Grizzlies were called for four offensive three second calls. Don’t know if I’ve ever seen that many before in a game.

A lot of people rag on Miami’s PA guy, but the worst in the league is the Grizzlies’ guy. It’s a basketball game, not a monster truck rally.

im over las night, the memphis game is the one i thought we WOULD lose cause it was a back to back, its whatever we can all B#$% and moan about brooks but ultimately its going to be up to presti to fire his ass.

oh and as for the heat being Unbeatable, kinda funny the cavs were up nearly 20 then the refs saved the heat, like they always do,

heres the end result on free throws. heat: 22-30

cavs: 14-17 The entire starting line up for the cavs were + , Lebron james was only +1 in this game lol

Can we really fire Brooks? What are the specifics of his contract and what that would entail?

Imagine this team with a Jeff Van Gundy. Not sure he'd fit but I'd rather watch that show than the one I am watching. I have never seen a more talented team have so many inexplicable and easily solved problems.

I feel like Brooks believes that we made it to the Finals last year BECAUSE of Fisher, instead of the more probable conclusion that we made it IN SPITE OF Fisher. A few weeks ago, Brian Davis and Grant Long were talking about Brooks's alleged comment that you can't bring a guy like Fisher in just for veteran leadership; that he has to get minutes or else nobody on the team will listen to his advice. I don't buy that for one second. KD and Russ and the other guys aren't stupid arrogant jerks. They're not going to say "Sorry Fish, you have 5 rings and decades of experience, but you're old and can't play so we don't have to listen to your advice." They have way more respect for Fisher's accomplishments than that. In fact, I think they would have MORE respect for Fisher if he were to admit to himself and to others that he has lost a step and defer his minutes to the younger more athletic players, resigning himself to the Eric Maynor role of "coach from the bench".

When your All-Stars shoot 18 for 53, and you lose by one, it's not an indictment of your team. It's just a bad shooting slump, there will be regression to the mean. If KD and Russ combine to shoot 34% from the field in the playoffs then, of course, it's going to be a very short run for the Thunder.

The offense is producing the same open shots, they've just been missing a lot more. But I really doubt that KD and Russ will shoot this badly in the playoffs.

There's no reason to romanticize last years team. They finished 47-19, with a +6.2 point differential, 56.7% true shooting percentage, offensive efficiency rating of 107.1, defensive efficiency rating of 100.

This year's team is 50-19, with a +9.1 point differential, 58.3% true shooting percentage, offensive efficiency rating of 110.1, defensive efficiency rating of 99.5. This is a much better team on both sides of the ball.

Last year's team also slumped at the end of the season, finishing 7-7 in their last 14 games. They certainly didn't look like worldbeaters going into the playoffs.

@TaoMaas@Biologist I think Brooks is allergic to any suggestion of a 'system', either defensive or offensive. That was fine when this was a team full of kids. Now we have two bonafide superstars, a stretch power forward who's a terror on defense and one of the purest scorers in the game that moves well without the ball. This team is screaming for more intricate play calling and can pull it off well, yet we always end up devolving into KD isos at the end of games.

I get the idea that if you switch up what you do, teams can't plan for you as well. But there's also something to be said for forcing your will on teams which we are absolutely capable of. And, no, playing Perk when the other team goes small doesn't count.

@fireBrooks Maybe Brooks can just play Fisher in a 4-man lineup. His veteran leadership surely counts a 2 people right? He could play point and shooting guard at the same time. That way, all of our better guards can get rest that they don't need.

@Perkfection Bry Bry@Skyline Appreciation of Lazar is independent of DT. For example, if I were to draw a Vinn Diagram, most of DT would fall in the intersection of DT and Lazar Appreciation. But we merely scratch the surface of the huge circle that is Lazar Fandom.

@TaoMaas Horrific 3-point shooting. That's the part of the shooting slump that really hurts. The OKC offense is predicated on their athletes penetrating into the lane and kicking out for open 3-point shots.

Those shots had been falling all year, therefore OKC had the most efficient and productive offense in the league. They haven't been falling recently.

I will assume it's a slump. Can't imagine KD will shoot this badly forever.

@Lost Ones@DXL Like Bill Parcells says, you are what your record says you are. OKC has been the third best team in the league. It's that "championship caliber"? Probably not this year, Miami looks unstoppable.

But it is still a better team than the 2011-12 Thunder by all statistical measures.

@TaoMaas I'm not saying that it's impossible that Brooks is right and Biologist is wrong, I am saying that you using Brooks' experience to dismiss Biologist's opinion is an fallacious way to debate. If you think Brooks is right, that's fine but back up your opinions using arguments other than Brooks superior experience.

@FF_pickups "You said that Brooks is an expert compared to Biologist therefore Brooks is right and Biologist is wrong." This is the only accurate part of your post. Yes, I did say that Brooks might have more knowledge than an anonymous message board poster. Are you disagreeing? Seriously? LOL

@TaoMaas "YOU'RE the one using argument from authority to claim Biologist's assessment that the Thunder's problems are easily solved is correct. You're claiming that because Biologist has made correct statements about the Thunder in the past, therefore he is correct now when he says their problems are easily solved."

This is so wrong on many levels:

A) Biologist isn't an expert

B) I never said Biologist is right because he's an expert

C) Brooks is an Expert

D) You said that Brooks is an expert compared to Biologist therefore Brooks is right and Biologist is wrong.

@fireBrooks Perhaps I will eventually, but until then, I choose to support the players and coaches we have. I don't expect them to win them all...and I don't think there's a "magic pill" that will cure everything. I want them to play hard, be in the hunt every year possible, and I'll live with the consequences. Isn't that what being a fan is all about? To me, to constantly gripe about the short-comings of our team, but claim to be a fan, is kinda like saying, "I love my wife...but I'd love her more if she'd cut her hair, change the color, get a boob job, were a little smarter, and had a better job." Come on...how much did you really love her in the first place?

The argument from authority (argumentum ad verecundiam) can take several forms. As a statistical syllogism, the argument has the following basic structure: Most of what authority A has to say on subject matter S is correct.A says P about subject matter S.Therefore, P is correct.

YOU'RE the one using argument from authority to claim Biologist's assessment that the Thunder's problems are easily solved is correct. You're claiming that because Biologist has made correct statements about the Thunder in the past, therefore he is correct now when he says their problems are easily solved.

@TaoMaas @fireBrooks for the record, Cheeks was a horrid head coach. He managed to take essentially the same Sixers team that made the finals under Larry Brown and turn them into a lottery team with a very similar roster. Don't give the man to much credit.

@fireBrooks He's still one of the all-time great players and a former head coach himself...and quite likely will be a head coach again. I'm just saying that to believe that the Thunder's problems are easily solved...so that we can beat the Nuggets, Grizzlies, Heat, and Spurs....all some of the best teams in the NBA...is extremely naive.

@FF_pickups@DXL@Lost Ones Serious question. Looking at the formula for RPI, are comparisons of one year to another useful? It looks like one of those stats that's useful for comparison to other teams in one season but might need to be normalized to compare different seasons.

@DXL@Lost Ones I'd tweak that a bit to say you are what your Pythagorean mean record says you are. Based on a superior point differential and a slightly tougher strength of schedule (.509 vs .500) the Thunder are probably slightly better than the Heat as a team. Problem is, the Heat's defense has our number and Brooks' response is "Be more predictable!"

Trackbacks

[…] could have used to both advance the ball and try to draw up their own game-winning response, but as Daily Thunder’s Royce Young wrote, “Perk inexplicably inbounded the ball [and] Westbrook launched a 70-foot shot that was wide […]

[…] could have used to both advance the ball and try to draw up their own game-winning response, but as Daily Thunder’s Royce Young wrote, “Perk inexplicably inbounded the ball [and] Westbrook launched a 70-foot shot that was wide […]